This week we get some straight talk on interest rates from guest blogger, Barbara Van Duyn, a certified mortgage planner with First Priority Financial. If you have any mortgage questions, you can reach Barbara through her Web site, www.BarbaraVanDuyn.com.
It was hard to miss as the media was all over the latest attempt to stimulate the housing market this week. Not an official announcement by the U.S. Treasury but rather a leak to the media that the Treasury is proposing to buy mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an attempt to influence 30-year mortgage rates down to 4.500 percent. Don’t hold your breath though because for now… it’s just talk. Any details are merely speculation with the intent that such talk will influence lenders to lower their mortgage rates. The fact is … the Treasury doesn’t set mortgage rates, the financial markets do based on the trading of mortgage bonds. We have endured countless plans this year by Washington to change the course of the housing market and most have failed miserably. There are some things that legislation can’t fix. In the meantime, mortgage rates are trading in a range between 5.125 and 5.500 percent based on qualifying factors and today’s buyers are taking advantage of the opportunities. That’s a fact!
Until the next time, take care. Barbara
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